The interaction of intense light fields with matter is pivotal in various physical contexts, ranging from coherent control schemes in atomic physics to steering the flow of energy in solid-state systems. In particular, joining free-electron beams with ultrafast lasers facilitates the probing of nanoscale dynamics in ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (UTEM) and opens the field of free-electron quantum optics. In my talk, I will briefly introduce the UTEM methodology that combines state-of-the-art TEM with optical pump-probe spectroscopy [1,2], show selected applications in the study of ultrafast dynamics, and discuss the coherent coupling of electrons and photons down to the single particle level.
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